Francistown registers 60 teen pregnancies in three months
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday April 7, 2025 15:16
Principal District Development Officer, Masego Pitso, indicated that the teen pregnancy statistics prove that many girls are defiled in the second city when she was giving an update on the UDC report during the last full council session pitso.
She stated that in the second quarter of last year (July to September) they recorded 57 cases of defilement.
Pitso also said they previously registered 62 cases of defilement from April to June last year.
She stated that their objective is to reduce teenage pregnancy from 9.2 percent to 7.5 percent by March 2025.
There is a need for men to let children be to grow into mature young adult women than have sexual relations with them, she added.
Pitso elaborated that there is a challenge of communication barriers between parents and children on sexual health.
She was also concerned about the spike in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in the second city despite the condom distribution.
She added that the rise in STIs also shows people don't use condoms. Therefore, Pitso stated that there is a need for people to be educated on the use of condoms.
She added that the decline in condom use leads to the spike in diseases such as STIs and HIV.
Pitso also said that with the rise of defilement cases, it shows that children are sexualised early hence a need for them to also be educated on usage of condoms.
She indicated that between October and December they registered 3,342 STI cases with urethral discharge leading the statistics.
Monarch South councillor, Otsile Moses commented that with the rise of defilement cases there is a need to reintroduce school clubs such as drama to educate children on sexual abuse, protection, and STI.
On her part, Central councillor Lilian Griesmier said that there is a need for perpetrators to be taken to task.
She said that it is painful experience to watch children battle trauma of being sexually abused.